Abstract

Platinum is electrochemically stable and biocompatible, and remains the preferred material for the fabrication of implantable neural electrodes. In a foil or film format, platinum is mechanically stiff compared to interfaced biological tissue. We report a soft, highly stable platinum-elastomer composite that offers both mechanical compliance and the electrochemical properties of platinum. We demonstrate the high-performance of the novel mesocomposite printed on stretchable microelectrodes both in vitro and in vivo. The platinum-elastomer composite is a new promising coating for chronic neural interfaces.

Financial support was provided by the Foundation Bertarelli, the International Paraplegic Foundation, Starting Grants from the European Research Council (Nos. ERC 259419 ESKIN and ERC 261247 Walk-Again), and Nano-tera.ch (No. 20NA_145923 SpineRepair).

Abstract

Platinum is electrochemically stable and biocompatible, and remains the preferred material for the fabrication of implantable neural electrodes. In a foil or film format, platinum is mechanically stiff compared to interfaced biological tissue. We report a soft, highly stable platinum-elastomer composite that offers both mechanical compliance and the electrochemical properties of platinum. We demonstrate the high-performance of the novel mesocomposite printed on stretchable microelectrodes both in vitro and in vivo. The platinum-elastomer composite is a new promising coating for chronic neural interfaces.